Genergy

Somehow

Have you ever been in a situation when out of the blue – just when you least expect it – somebody near you does something that reminds you once more just how beautiful people truly are? This last week, it happened to a friend of mine. A good friend. He’s still profoundly touched by what some people did for him a few days ago. He doesn’t know how they did it. But they did it. Somehow.

My friend is in a very special kind of relationship. He and his wife adore each other. They’ve loved each other from the day they met. Each and every day, he feels blessed that they met. He thanks God for her every morning. And you can tell that they’ll always adore each other.  But just a couple of weeks ago, my friend’s wife found out that her father had suddenly fallen very seriously ill. My friend’s wife immediately travelled to be with her father, and her entire family joined her there. They had all, very quickly, come long and far – from different cities and countries - to be with him and to all be together.

The father is a unique example of an amazing man. He is fun, sincere, intelligent, quietly loving, supportive, encouraging, inspirational, and naturally - without any self-fanfaring – the very father many men aspire to one day be. His family absolutely adore him and he truly adores his family. I know this father quite well – he is a pure gentleman and absolutely devoted to the love that flows in his family. I haven’t known many men like this.

With each day that has recently passed, the father’s situation has grown increasingly serious. So a week ago, my friend travelled to be with his wife by her father’s bedside. And when he got there, among the disbelief and fear, he could feel the love, togetherness and true passion that his wife’s beautiful family hold for their dear father. And as updates flowed in all week from the medical staff, the family held together, held strong, nourished each other’s love in constancy and did everything they could for each other.

One morning last week, the wife apologised to my friend - her husband. It was to be his birthday on Friday, and she’d arranged so many things for him. Surprise things. With friends. She’d in fact organised a whole day of lovely surprises. And she was now so sorry that it all had to be cancelled. And as my friend held his wife while she tried to apologise, he realised he’d completely forgotten about his birthday. He just didn’t care. He held his wife.  All this man could think about was loving and supporting his wife, helping- and being there for her family and praying for her father. Bugger his birthday. His birthday could not have been more irrelevant.

And on Thursday evening, my friend was so focused on what his wife’s family needed that evening, that he missed it. He didn’t notice the briefest cheeky grin that his 6 year old, blue-eyed nephew was trying so very, very, VERY hard to hide. 

On Friday, my friend awoke to his wife’s incredible love. The loveliest cards and presents were followed by a day with the family, hearing about the progress my friend’s wife’s father was making, not making, and trying so hard to make. And the family was again together. Supporting the father together, supporting each other together, talking, listening, encouraging, being the very love their family has created in this world. And after a tiring, long day, they decided to all head back home together. Some quiet time and a cup of tea.

********** S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E ! **********

As my friend walked through the door, there were grins everywhere. The nephews were grinning. The family were grinning. And as my friend saw the surprise birthday celebration the family had somehow secretly arranged – with the most fantastic birthday buffet waiting – my friend realised that he too was grinning. As the ‘Happy Birthday!’s were yelled, as the  champagne glasses were raised, as the candles were blown out, as the wish was made, and as the chocolate birthday cake was cut, somehow, this beautiful family had found an evening to grin. There were grins, smiles and laughs. Somehow, they’d all found a way to spend the evening celebrating life.

Somehow, this beautiful family has held strong. Somehow, they’ve all come together straight away. Somehow, they’ve found the most beautiful way of nourishing their love for each other. Somehow, they’ve created the strongest connection of love through this. Somehow, they’ve held true. And somehow, amid all this, they somehow celebrated a birthday. Somehow. 

We human beings are stunning creatures. Somehow, we learn to talk. Somehow, we learn to walk. Somehow, we overcome the challenges of the past. And somehow, when the sky turns dark, we find the most incredible way of bringing something true, lasting and pure to the lives of others. Somehow, we find a way of helping others and somehow, despite life’s constant distractions, we can instinctively sense the core beauty of the people around us. Life isn’t permanent. But somehow, each one of us has the opportunity to create an eternal beauty in this world. It’s sitting inside each of us waiting – just itching - to be released. Somehow, we are capable of being so much more powerfully human than we often think and assume we can be.

Enjoy your life today. And tomorrow. And forever. :-)

 

Jonathan

Making the most of the In-between bit

I count myself as blessed that I am able to do something with my life that makes a real difference to people around me. I really love what I do and often find myself meeting and working with the most amazing people. However, sometimes I have an experience or work with a group that is such a privilege to be with that it moves me for weeks afterwards. On Monday and Tuesday last week I had one of those experiences and wanted to share it with you. It’s all about the power of teams and choice – what you do with ‘The In-between Bit’.

One of my truest passions in this work is working with teams. Something about the power and dynamic of a team holds the most massive potential for the people within it and for what they can achieve. I have seen time and time again, people move and shift more fundamentally and quickly as part of a team than they would necessarily on their own. The dynamic means that as one person grows, the constellation of the team changes and others are challenged out of their comfort zones too. If you can hold the magic and just allow what needs to happen to unfold with no judgement or pre-conceptions, you will be amazed at the result.

Last week's team are also truly graced because they have an amazing leader who is prepared to take risks and step out of his comfort zone and be vulnerable for the sake of the group. I facilitated the two days with another fantastic coach and with the leader of the team and it felt that, throughout the two days, the three of us were weaving together so naturally and beautifully and so in tune with the group that it would have been impossible to say who was doing what at any given time. This team leader created the possibility for change and a different way of operating and the team recognised this and, feeling safe, stepped inside. What is also remarkable is that this leader has created in his team something very different from the overall culture in the organisation. And word's getting around -people are starting to notice the change and that there is something different about his bunch of people. They are becoming catalysts who will fundamentally change the way people behave in the business – not by talking about it, but by having the courage to be and operate fundamentally differently. People often ask us how to create sustainable change – I would say that when people are connected in this way to a greater sense of purpose and to their own individual and group humanity, they don’t need processes or systems to keep them going, they are driven from within.

One of the most powerful parts of the day was when we asked each of the group to share 3 things that had defined them as a person, asking them to think about what would help their team mates understand them more. Wow. As each person shared their stories, you could see the layers that had built up through the years just fall away as they stood there - as the true power of who they are. And, as each person shared, the stories became deeper and more personal. Each person felt the permission to open up more and more and a new open space was created. Yas and I sat in awe as this all unfolded, I could feel the emotion rise up in me as people showed who they truly are at their core. How often can you say that you truly do this with people?

I could say so much about this amazing bunch of people. How open and trusting they were, how each and every one of them challenged themselves and stepped out of their comfort zones over the two days, how moved I was that a group of men (and one woman!) had the courage to be truly, powerfully, maturely emotionally open and what a true privilege it was to witness. However, it feels that some feedback from a member of this team captures it in a way that I couldn’t. We didn’t use standard feedback forms, we just asked the team to email us and write from the heart and core what they had experienced. Again, trusting that what was powerful would emerge. Here's what one male team member fed back to us... take a moment to enjoy its power:

“Everything has a life. All things are born and inevitably all things will die and a variety of things will happen In-between these two points.

 A Plant has a life – It is born from its seed. Its In-between bit is dependant on its surroundings, if it gets plenty of water and light it will grow strong and healthy and beautiful flowers will blossom before the plant dies. Without the light and water it may struggle to grow, live a short unhealthy life and never flower.

 A River has a life – It is born from a spring of water from a mountainside. Its In-between bit is dependant on the weather and terrain. If conditions are right it will grow into an immense river and carve through continents for centuries before finally drying up and dying. Other conditions may mean that it never becomes more than a trickle of water on the mountainside and dries up and dies quite quickly.

 A Star has a life – It is born through a coming together of gases and dust. Its In-between bit is dependant on the amount of Hydrogen it has in its mass. With plenty of Hydrogen It can shine and burn brightly for billions of years with less Hydrogen it may turn red and fade after millions.

 The In-between bit for almost everything that has a life is dependant on circumstances that the life is powerless to change.

The brilliant thing about people and the thing that separates our lives (or the life of the things we are involved in) from all others is that we have the ability to choose and decide what our In-between bit looks like. Obviously we are still influenced by outside factors; the weather, availability of food, the terrain we live on etc. but on the whole we decide which course our life will take and how we will respond to the circumstances that are presented to us.

 Our team has a life – AT SOME POINT IT WILL DIE! Lets not spend too much time being afraid of this or wondering when it’s going to happen, lets shine brightly, blossom fully and carve through continents, while we live lets be great. As a team we can choose to do exceptional things or mediocre things, it’s our choice.

 I think on Monday and Tuesday we set out our stall and made the choice as to how our team will live its life. We’re going to make things happen, embrace the challenges we face, improve ourselves with open feedback and while we’re at it we’re going to smile.

Of course we will have set backs and the terrain will be rocky at times, but I saw over the two days that as a team we’ll handle that and we’ll become even stronger because of it.

 Now all that remains is the easy bit, let’s live life to the full and together achieve our massive potential!!”

This powerful team has been truly transformed. But that's not really what this is about. My message this morning? Don’t wait for someone else to start a change. Trust that the conditions are all there and what we all decide on a daily and hourly basis is what to do with ‘the In-between bit’. You always have a choice to be the catalyst and to start the magic of change, not by speaking but by who you are and what you do. 

Lisa 

Seeing The Horse

When you look at people, do you see a frog, a prince or a horse?  It’s not a question I’ve heard before. It’s not one I ever imagined hearing myself ask. And it sounds strange at first. But at about 14:17 yesterday afternoon, I heard the question for the very first time. Yesterday, we spent another day working with the apprentices at Jamie Oliver’s ‘Fifteen’. And it was one of the most eye- and mind-opening experiences I’ve had in years. We’re buzzing from it. And I’m seeing horses everywhere. Want to hear about it?

Allow me first to state that I am not taking drugs. Nor am I suffering from any kind of psychosis. I checked this morning, and the mushrooms we’ve been eating recently are all of the normal kind. And the gas taps on our oven are most definitely pointing to ‘off’. So please trust me… this is real.

We work with lots of businesses, of all different kinds. And Lisa and Tash - who I was with yesterday - have worked in advanced leadership development with managers and teams for years. But just recently over the last few months, there’s been a special energy about both ladies. I don’t mean the beautiful, unique aura that they always seem to have, I mean something even more glowing. And it’s been something I’ve felt every single day, but which I’ve only been feeling from the edge. I’ve been looking in on it and listening to-, but not quite feeling what they’re doing. They’ve been radiating something very private.  Almost cult-like, you could say. They’ve had something in their eyes. Their voices have been a bit different. They’ve been creating something very special. And I realised yesterday that the team at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen have been contributing to this. We’ve written about our day picking wild mushrooms with them before. But that was back in October. Yesterday I realised just how much – I mean… good grief... how quickly these amazing apprentices have made progress transforming how they operate.

We’d had fun preparing for yesterday. Lisa and Tash had done great work developing a day that would move at pace to unleash deep change. The day was about perspectives, choice, moment, alarms and triggers. Now we’ve all had thoughts on assumptions, mindsets, perspectives and self-management. Many people have also received training and development on these things. Rightly so. But the pure, true power of yesterday was how to handle this instinctively – in the moment. It’s important to explain why this was key.

The apprentices at ‘Fifteen’ aren’t executives. They don’t have offices or big, comfy chairs. And their work doesn’t include the kinds of meetings we’ve all attended in the corporate world. You know, the ones where you have time to think while others speak, when you have time to think about perspectives and time to contemplate the impact on others of what you’ll say next. The world of these apprentices is raw. It’s real-time. It’s in the moment. They’re learning to become world-class chefs. And that means a truly vertical learning curve. It’s tough there. They have to make progress ultra-fast.  They can’t serve the kind of fayre we’d get in just any old ‘good’ restaurant and then sit down and patiently discuss ‘how things went’. They have to quickly create the exceptional.  And they didn’t get there because of the school daddy paid for, nor because of mummy’s network of friends. In fact it’s the opposite. Their road to this apprenticeship has often been a tough one, full of bumps, potholes and crevasses. And often, it’s been a road they’ve had to walk alone. But walked it they have. And as a result, they are divinely honest, unpretentious, real and ready to challenge anything that comes their way. And they’re also ready for anything that will help them grow fast. 

So we were excited about what we had lined up for yesterday. But the beauty was that we let the energy of the room – of the apprentices – take the day where it truly needed to go. What made the day so powerful was how fantastically the apprentices embraced ‘the moment’. In other words, how to spot, choose and change assumptions and resultant perspectives – not philosophically or retrospectively – but in that hundredth of a second that is the very moment that they occur. And as we did this with them, they were alive. We talked about challenging moments, challenging relationships and the energy these create. And then came the energy.

From different parts of the room came a shower of pure, honest insight. Some had friends they really care about who are having it tough, and they realised they could handle moments with these friends in powerful new ways. Some admitted patterns of behaviour they recognised and have already started to fundamentally change and saw for the first time how to operate differently in each of their moments. And some talked about the very real challenges they constantly face with each other. And as each of them spoke, they weren’t telling stories about the past, they were speaking in the moment, using the language of ‘now’.  They felt the energy that ‘now’ creates, they discussed how to best use it, and they commented on the energy of the potential of each choice they make in the moment. When I was their age, I didn’t speak like this. Nor did the brightest of the people I’ve worked with in the past.

To be honest, we thought a slide we had would be really useful. But they took it further. Our slide had a frog and a prince on it. We wanted to use it to show how each moment of a person’s existence carried the energy of choice. We wanted them to know that each and every moment, reaction, thought, assumption and perspective was one they could choose and have control over by using its energy differently. And they got it fast. So fast, that I grinned from ear to ear when I heard what came next.

“I see a horse. The prince is sitting on a horse. A brown horse. What should I do if a person or a situation or moment I’m in turns out to be a horse, when I’m actually just trying to work out it whether it’s a frog or a prince?”. He wasn’t being clever or sarcastic, he meant it and his question was a great one. None of the questions we heard yesterday were academic or cerebral. They came from the real-time awareness of what energy does to people.

Have a think about the following other questions we heard the group ask each other yesterday. These questions were created not by cleverness or philosophy, but by real-time response to the life-changing energy created by the moments that Fifteen’s apprentices bring.

1. What is the best perspective to choose about how others change their perspectives?
2. When energy is telling me to look after myself but my heart wants to look after someone else, how do I choose?
3. When I choose a new perspective in the moment, how will others know I’m doing it for the right reason – do I have to explain what energy is?

Then a question came that made me wobble. It still does. It came from a serious male face that wasn’t looking for a cheap laugh. He was connected and speaking from a deep, centred part of himself. He meant it:

“Now that we’re all doing this, does that make us Genergy-efficient?”

These questions came out raw. These apprentices truly get it. They’re beginning to operate supremely differently. And because of yesterday, I’m more on fire and inspired than i've felt in years.

And I’m going to leave it there. While you’re looking for the horses in the energy of your own moments, enjoy every hundredth of each second.

Jonathan

How do you say ‘Just what they deserve!’?

If you could do just one powerful thing for everyone around you, what would it be? We’ve been thinking about this a lot just recently, what with wedding planning, busy programmes and by way of thanking the people in our village for the incredible warmth and friendliness they’ve shown us since we moved here earlier this year. But bigger than that… something has really changed out there. Lots of others are pulling out all the stops to do something life-changing for others too. And this last week, 2 people have impressed the heck out of me. In fact, this last week, I’ve been rendered – very unlike me - completely speechless.

We’ve written about 2011 before. Following the demands inside businesses of the last couple of years, we at Genergy have for some time been sensing something coming. Something energetically extremely powerful. We’ve felt it every day for a while – like a calm before the loveliest storm. And now it’s happening.

A very wise senior European spy once told me that the more words we use to articulate something, the easier it is to actually say it in just one sentence. And he was right.

Last week, the snow in England brought havoc to many people’s week. We had lots of discussions and meetings lined up, but like many, we had to reschedule.  Staying at home in the snow with our snow-mad puppy was just the bliss we needed. But while re-arranging the meetings, some very special energy showed its colours… The energy of honest truthfulness.

One of the meetings we had lined up was one I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while. The manager at that business had been looking forward to it to. So with him stuck at home, and me with a puppy sitting on my feet, we decided to talk things through on the phone and see where this took us. His business – a well-known, large one -  has been doing some great work with their managers and teams. During a tough period, they’ve been doing everything they can to keep their people connected with the energy and essence of what their business is trying to achieve. It sounds like they’ve done a great job, but people are tiring and are ready for the Christmas break. “Of course, this is about improving performance and leadership. But it’s more than that. Developing our people isn’t a one-sided relationship. We’re only going to get the best out of people if we recognise who they are in some powerful way. We don’t want to behave like just another Corporate. What we need to do for our people in 2011” said the man “is make 2011 a year unlike any they’ve had before. It’s got to be powerful, different, real, sustainable, unlike the 2011 they’d have at Whatever Plc, and one which makes our people feel like they truly belong to- and are a core part of what we’re about. It’s got to leave people stunned by themselves. We want them to really get something from this connection with us. And it’s got to be different. We just don’t know how to make it happen.”

As we spoke, the man I was talking with was doing everything he could to articulate what it was he was trying to achieve. We must have talked for almost an hour. Don’t get me wrong, this gent is as sharp as a dye, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. And as we laughed about this, it became easier. We looked back through the training, courses and programmes they’d all been doing and they sounded really good, but something was just… well… missing. There wasn’t any recognition of the pure truth of who his people really are.

So I asked him “If your wife kissed you and asked you why you’re even bothering with all this, what would you say to her?”

Then it came.  “I want to change people’s lives…I’m looking to give our people just what they deserve.” And then we went silent. He had it.

We meet in January. Just how much do you think we’re looking forward to this? If you work for this company, your 2011 will be a cracker.

At the end of last week, we met someone else. An even bigger company this time. We made it despite the snow, and the mince pie waiting for us when we got there was more than worth the effort.

The company in question has an inspirational approach to developing people. They seriously do. Far from just training or coaching, they enjoy taking things further. In our first ever conversation, the man told me “We need our people to perform exceptionally, so we’re exceptional back. We want a happy marriage.”.

When we sat down, we listened. And for an hour, this man explained everything about their business, their ethos, their lessons-learned over the years, their assumptions, their beliefs and what has typified their highest achieving teams and managers. The man was honest, balanced, equally as transformational a listener as a speaker, and you could feel that he meant what he said about his people.  For me, he was an ambassador for the pureness of their performance. We love working with people who mean what they say.

And as this man showed us what had driven their decision-making for people development in recent years, you could feel that something didn’t quite fit. Not quite. Proud as the man was, something was itching. And he tried his best to use words to scratch it. We laughed, he drew diagrams, we used examples and we spoke in abstracts, but the man – abnormally articulate – had that look on his face that said “I just don’t know how to say this”.

So we asked him “When you look right to the core, the heart, the absolute purist reason for why you’re doing what you’re doing, what is it that’s driving you to do your very best in this moment for your people?”

He thought for a few seconds then opened up. “Honest?  The last few years have been a shit time. Our people have really been up against it. Some of their colleagues have been made redundant. They’re jiggered. But it’s not just about re-engaging them to get performance to a new place. It runs deeper. It’s who people are that makes this place what it is, not just what they can do. And I can’t believe it’s taken us so long to realise this. But it’s more than that even. It’s like something big has changed. We’ve seen new sides of people recently and it’s opened our eyes. People have been holding their true selves back. And we see this. We’ve started recognising our people for the first time. We see them. The real them. And they’re the purest asset we could ever hope for. It’s sort of time to recognise that…

“But how the hell can we do it?” As we smiled and sat back, he looked around the floor. As we were about to present Genergy's thoughts, something murmured inside the man.

He finally realised what he’d been trying to say. “It’s just what our people deserve.”. 

Businesses can’t donate all their money to good causes – they have salaries to pay. And they can’t turn into charities overnight. And swathes of businesses will continue to struggle before they learn the true, purist language of their people. Some businesses will continue to incentivise people with money alone. Fine, until, that is, their competitors nearby offer more money. But change is happening. Influential people on the ground in good businesses are connecting to the true difference they can really make. They want things to be different. They’re smelling the reality that is the exceptional energy of who their people really are. Beautifully, the already fantastic people working for these businesses at the end of 2010 have no idea what’s coming in 2011. They won’t believe it when it arrives. It’s powerful, true recognition of the cleanest, realest energy of who these exceptional people are. Lives are about to change. And all because their colleagues want to do something powerful for them. The reason? Because they just deserve it.

Jonathan 

 

The Power And Magic Of Breaking Boxes

When’s the last time you suddenly found yourself in a box? And if you woke up in one tomorrow, what would you do? This last week Natasha and I had the privilege of running a very special workshop with the Apprentices from Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant. And what happened there is still leaving us buzzing.

We’ve worked with Fifteen for a number of years but always with the management team. This was the first time we’d worked with the apprentices directly. We had met the guys on a mushroom foraging trip in October so we had a sense of where they were and what we might be able to help them with. Working with a new group is always a bit of a step into the loveliest unknown, but this step was more like a leap.

Tash and I mulled over what might be really powerful for the apprentices and what we decided to do was to work with a profiling system called Insights Discovery. Insights is a really fantastic way of triggering self awareness. Essentially, it all starts with each person receives an individual profile which tells you all about your strengths and potential weaknesses and how you like to work etc. What happens next is powerful stuff. It’s all based around 4 colour energies with the belief that we are all different combinations of those colours and have preferences for up to 3 of them. It’s lovely, creative and visual and we find it a great way to open people up to a greater sense of themselves and others. We use it a lot with corporate clients and it works extremely well. However, what was interesting was that it created a powerfully different energy with this group of young people...

We are working with the Apprentices over 3 sessions in November, December and January so we have the chance to build on their learning and really embed what we do. The first session was really to introduce them to the concept of Insights and play around with it so that they have the background and understand what it is all about when they do their profiles. So, we planned our day and how it would work, keeping it all high energy and fun. So far, so good. And, we always hold that we need to do what is right in the moment, so our fantastic ‘plan’ often goes out of the window as we react to what is really needed and what is being created in that unique moment of time.

All began really well and we got into an exercise where we asked them to stand in the colour energy which they felt was their strongest and to plan next year’s graduation ceremony. The idea is that the groups display their colour preferences in a fun way and we get to talk about the ‘good day’ and ‘bad day’ versions of the colours. I’ve run this kind of exercise many times and people generally accept it for what it is. Of course, we are exaggerating to make the point of the differences in the colours and we keep emphasizing that we are a mix of all four colour energies. However, with this group something very interesting happened.

More than with any other group I have worked with, this particular exercise stirred up some really strong emotions and feelings, and we truly pushed some buttons for some of the people there. A couple of the group were really quite angry about feeling like we were forcing them to stand ‘in a box’ as they perceived it. As Tash and I reflected on it over lunch, we realised that this anger energy - the strength of feeling - was about feeling like they were being put in a box and being judged by others for it. And we also realised that these guys had probably been put ‘in a box’ many times in their lives with people judging them on the basis of their backgrounds, their attitudes, their lack of traditional achievement amongst many other things. What was amazing to witness was the absolute honesty, integrity and utter rawness of their reactions. No playing nice or politely-politics, just an openness and honesty of reaction. How often do we work in businesses and see people playing at being ‘good delegates’ and not really stepping out of their comfort zones? With these guys, you got it all, warts and all, and it was fantastic!

As we tuned into it over lunch we really felt the energy of what we had created with the group, the power of it and the sense of what needed to happen in the afternoon. So, out went the plan! And, instead, we acknowledged with the group that we had pressed some buttons, and so we worked with the energy of what these buttons, boxes and apprentices had unleashed. As we got the group on their feet, all standing in each of the colour energies and connected to the power of each of those energies for each of them on their journey with Fifteen, something purely remarkable happened. Without any guidance from us, they jumped from judgement and attack of others to feeling the true positive power of each of the colours. And, as they experienced each one for themselves, they let go of the judgement of others. It was a rare, beautiful moment to witness and we felt the group lap up the real energy of what they had created. Out of that initial conflict came a real sense of sharing and acknowledgement of the group and of themselves being witnessed as part of it.

As Tash and I went home that evening, we felt truly privileged and touched to be able to work in this way with these guys. And, it also made me reflect on how sometimes we do put people in boxes, often unconsciously. And because of social niceties, sometimes people don’t tell us we’re doing it, they stay in that box and we miss the opportunity of creating something life-changing, deep and wonderful with them.

For me, as I sit writing this today, I am struck by how much we at Genergy learn and are challenged by the work we do. We are supposed to be the ‘teachers’ and yet, last week, I felt like we were the ones being taught and changed by the experience. The more we step beyond our boxes, the more there is to discovery. May your week be full of discovery and challenge and watch out for those pesky boxes – especially those hiding inside habit and assumptions!

Have fun getting out and ripping them to pieces! 

Lisa X

5,4,3,2,1… The Genergy Leadership Forum Takes Off!

Hello all!

We’re thrilled to announce the launch today of the Genergy Leadership Forum!

What is it?

As you know, we at Genergy transform leadership. We’ve been working with some fantastic businesses recently and we now want to give something special back. Clients and friends have been asking us for a while whether they can post leadership topics, questions, thoughts, lessons-learned (and funny stuff!) on our website, so we thought we’d create something even better.

The new forum is about what YOU have to say about leadership in all its guises. Leadership is in all of our lives every single day. Some people lead entire businesses, some run parts of businesses, some run families, societies and clubs, some teach children, and many of us simply love leading ourselves with energy and passion! Whether you run the United Nations or are simply interested in making progress in your life, our forum is for you.

Do you have questions about leadership? Do you need to lead other people and you’re facing challenges? Do you need advice or help? Would you like to help others? Have you witnessed great leadership in others? Has leadership let you down? Have you learned lessons you’d love to share? Do you have ‘Top Tips’? What advice would you give to new leaders? What would you love to change? Got other thoughts? Or would you simply like to create your own leadership blog? Great… come on in!

We’ve had great fun creating this! But deciding what leadership actually is is entirely up to you -  we’re leaving it as open as possible. What do YOU want leadership to be? Our intention is that clients, friends, strangers and souls across the globe all bring their unique energy to the forum.

Like Genergy, the forum will constantly evolve – your feedback and ideas would be gold-dust for us! If you have ideas – or need any help - just drop me a line at Jonathan@genergy.uk.com. We’d simply love it if you help us turn the forum into what you need it to be!

The forum’s free – in every sense. And it’s simple to use. You can even use it anonymously, so you’re safe! Please… feel free to use this as often as you like!

Come on... let's transform leadership! J

Jonathan

www.genergy.uk.com/forum 

Genergy Blog fires up in 2010!

Welcome to Genergy! 

It is so exciting for us to see Genergy's blog go live. Genergy and this website are the culmination of 4 years of Lisa running her own coaching business and more years than we care to mention before that of managing and coaching individuals and teams...! Coaching has moved on. It is time to create something different, something that challenges the normal conventions and assumptions of coaching and leadership and that has a freshness and sustained, powerful energy. Leadership is changing. 

Lisa and Jonathan buzz at the heart of our business, and our team of leadership coaches will together unleash a fundamentally new service which is simple, but breathtakingly transformative.  

You'll see that we use the word 'energy' a lot! We believe that the foundation of happy lives and successful businesses is the ability to use our own energy well and to be able to tap into the greater sense of purpose and potential around us. Leadership is our passion: how to create leadership at all levels in your organisation, how to develop dream teams,and how to communicate in a way that releases the leadership and potential in those around you.

So, what is leadership to us at Genergy? You've probably all had an experience of being 'in the flow' - a state often used by athletes to describe a state of being that means that everything connects and you have a sense of being fully present and yet outside of yourself with a knowledge that everything will go well for you. In business we sometimes describe this as leadership presence, or that someone has charisma or great leadership. However we describe it, we all sense it, feel something special in it and perhaps wish we could have more of it for ourselves. In your leisure time you may feel it when you are running, swimming, standing on top of a mountain or with your children. So how can you have this state more often and learn how to lead from there? How can you have that indefinable sense of self and oomph(!) that attracts others to you and makes them want to work with you?

Well, let's look at some common misconceptions! We don't believe that some people are born leaders and some are not. We truly believe that leadership is available for all of us, it is just that some people have more conscious awareness and are more tuned into the potential of their 'bigger selves' than others. For so long, leadership has been seen to be about intellect and perhaps emotion. We believe it is far more than that. We believe that it comes from a deep connection to who you are and also to a bigger sense of purpose beyond yourself. From there, you forge a deeper, stronger, healthier connection to those around you. This helps you inspire, motivate and communicate differently in a way that makes a massive difference to you and your organisation.

So, the first tip? Think of something you are truly passionate about or picture a time when you felt yourself in that 'flow' state. Put yourself back in that time so that you can physically feel it, smell it, touch it, see it. Allow that feeling and energy to flow through every cell of your body. You'll notice your chest opening up, your shoulders going back and a feeling of pleasure running through you. This is a great exercise to do every morning to open up your energy. Imagine how different your day would feel if you operated more often from this place. Go practice it and enjoy what it does for you!

We'd love to hear your experiences of being in the flow (or not) and your thoughts on leadership. Do you think it is innate or learnt? Can you teach yourself to be a leader? Let the debate begin...

We wish you the most fantastic day you've enjoyed in a long time.

Lisa & Jonathan